


I Think I Might Be Okay After All

by orphan_account



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - I'm Not Okay Video, Awkward Flirting, Basement Gerard Way, Eventual Smut, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, High School, Loss of Virginity, My Chemical Romance References, Prom, Smut, Vaginal Sex, Virgin Gerard Way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 11:53:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13410708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: I'm Not Okay AU or how some asshole got Gee a girlfriend.





	I Think I Might Be Okay After All

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic in this fandom and English isn't my first language, so please go easy on me. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything and this work is purely fictional.

Cecilia Carmichael was not your average teenager. She was the one wearing ratty school uniforms, that looked as if they were older than herself. Therefore, she wasn’t exactly the most popular girl at Belleville High. Ever since her first day, she had been the odd misfit with the strict braids from St. Peter's Orphanage a few blocks down the street. Whilst other teenagers spent their evenings drinking and partying, she sat at “home” and read stories to the younger children. All the cool kids were listening to the latest music, wore the fanciest clothes, went to see movies, et cetera. Cecilia had an old piano to play when no one else laid a claim on it and the shitty pop music the nurses would listen to on the radio. Oh, and there was a small selection of books for all the children to read, but the most recent one was still ten years old and by now she had gone through all the interesting ones a million times. So there wasn’t exactly much to do these days, except for homework, playing with the little ones and helping the staff with some of their work. Maybe it would have been different if she had had any friends, but hers was an all-girls orphan’s asylum and she couldn't find a connection to the others her age. Apparently, there was no room for anything besides makeup, what little clothes and jewelry they had and boys in their petty minds, so she kept to herself and counted the days until her eighteenth birthday in July.

Cecilia's day had started out bad and progressively gotten worse after that. Every morning she had to walk for half an hour or so to get to school, because the orphanage was always short of money and wouldn’t buy bus tickets for them with highschool in walking distance. Only today it had rained cats and dogs and they had been totally drenched when they had finally gotten there. Of course her locker had been bust open and some assholes had thought they were being funny by soaking the clean set of clothes she kept there for occasions like this. She had spent the morning freezing, even though it was June. It had gotten so bad, that she had hardly been able to take notes throughout biology due to her clammy fingers and her math teacher had even excluded her from class, because she could not control the shattering of her teeth. Just great, they had been doing revisions for their finals next week and she just _had_ to do good at those, because her only chance at going to college was winning a scholarship! So yeah, today was a bad day. At least she had used the second half of the period to dry her clothes a little at the ladies’ restroom and was now marginally warmer. Thank god for electric hand dryers.

Around lunchtime it had finally stopped raining. The yard was just as chaotic and noisy as usual, but by now she had learned to dismiss the constant noise. She was listlessly nibbling at the tasteless, dry cheese sandwich they were given for lunch each day, when she heard it. As the odd one out, she always seemed to be the last one to catch on to any news around school. Most of it didn't concern her anyway, but this was different. “Have you heard? Everybody’s talking about how Chuck’s gonna pay anybody who takes Tampon Top to Prom!”, some girl was cackling at the table next to the tree she hid behind. Tampon Top. Cecilia hated, hated, _hated_ that nickname! So she had fiery red hair, what was the big deal? Obviously, that was all those kids needed to bully her. Well, that, the fact that she didn't even know the names of her parents and her hideous uniforms. Anyway, she wasn't even as hurt as usual, because her brain was still struggling to process what had actually been said.

“Are you serious?!” “Why would he do that?” “Alright, who in his right mind would ask her out without an incentive?” “It’s not as if she had anything to offer by herself!” “Oh come on, his father might run a big company, but Chuck doesn’t have _that_ much money!” “Have you seen her today? Like a drowned rat!”, the others immediately chimed in. Their words were like little spikes, that stabbed her. Was she really that ugly? What had she ever done to them?! Cecilia was already at the verge of tears… again. Just like pretty much every day for the past four years. Thank god there were less than two weeks left of this hell. “Hey, just let me finish! He said he’s gonna pay any guy fifty bucks, who takes her to Prom. BUT! If the guy manages to fuck her and take a photo to prove it, he will pay him _five hundred dollars_!”, the first voice proclaimed smugly. Whoever it belonged to probably looked like a cat who had swallowed a canary. Cecilia didn't pay attention to the following conversation about her physical shortcomings, but tried her best to remain calm. So… Chuck, richest guy of her year and bully extraordinaire, had taken it upon himself to have someone rid her of her virginity. Well, actually it was so absurd it was funny. Did all these people have nothing else to worry about!? Like, the finals they all had to sit next week? She didn't even wonder why he would do something so ridiculous, probably just because he could. 

However, the most pressing matter right now was the fact that no doubt five hundred dollars were a pretty convincing argument to overlook some of her flaws and ask her out. Actually she had not planned to go to Prom at all, there were so much better things she could spend her money on. Not that she had very much, but she had saved it all for college, just in case she ever got to attend one. The tickets were somewhat affordable, but buying a fancy dress and all the stuff she would need seemed utterly pointless when there was no one she wanted to celebrate with. Unfortunately, this stupid dare (or whatever you wanted to call it) definitely changed things. They all were only students and most of them were broke like all the time. She could think of at least ten guys, who would do a hell of a lot for five hundred bucks and certainly _not_ take no for an answer. Some might even show up at the orphanage and drag her to Prom, whether she came along willingly or not. Alright, what could she do? Cecilia threw her half-eaten sandwich back into her lunchbox and bit her lip while mulling over her possibilities.

She would decline the invitations she was going to receive, but she wouldn't have a single moment of peace unless she found herself a date. Someone of her own choice, ideally someone she trusted not to rape her for money. For now, she tried to deny the fact, that she would be asking out one of her peers before the end of the day. Panicking wouldn’t help at all. Okay. Focus. She had to tackle this logically. It had to be someone, who wasn’t spoken for so far. For the first time ever, Cecilia wished she had paid more attention to those stupid who-with-whom conversations, that had taken place non-stop a few weeks ago. This really was last minute and she had no idea who was even available. Alright, maybe a different approach. Was there someone she could trust? Probably not, since she didn't really know anybody well enough to really judge their character. But… there was one guy she would actually _want_ to go with. If she had to choose between all the males of her year, it would always be him. Even better, she had not heard anything about him having a date, yet. She peered around her tree and slowly got up.

Lunch break was drawing to a close and the table closest to her had already been deserted. Thank god for that. Cecilia looked around and swallowed when she set eyes on the lonely, slumped figure in the far corner. By now only a dozen people were still hanging around the tables and she had not even ten minutes left to get to her English class. Alright. She could do this. Deep breaths and one foot in front of the other. The distance between them shrank at an alarming rate and by the time she reached him, she still had absolutely no clue what to say. He didn't even notice her. As far as she could see, he was completely focused on a small sketch-book in his lap. Cecilia eagerly took the rare opportunity to point-blank look at him.

He was pale and always had been, she couldn't remember ever having seen him with a tan. Shoulder-length black hair framed an expressive face. It wasn't as angular as his brother’s, but he still had quite distinctive cheekbones, a pointed nose and a defined chin. His tongue peeked out between soft lips and his brow was furrowed in concentration as his pen flew over the paper. To Cecilia he was utterly beautiful. She finally mustered the courage to mutter: “Uhmm… Gerard?” His head snapped up and the most magnificent hazel eyes she had ever seen met hers. Alright, she had his attention. How hard could it be to ask the guy you’ve had a crush on for years to go to Prom with you?

 

~~~ Gerard's POV ~~~

 

Gerard could only stare at her. As far as he knew, they had never even exchanged a single word, although they shared a few classes. Her name was Cecilia, she was a loner, one of their year’s best students and lived in the orphanage a few blocks down the road, but that was pretty much all he knew about her. In fact he had never even really taken a look at her, she kind of disappeared in the crowd. But now, that she stood right in front of him, his eyes wandered over her graceful figure. Her uniform was well-worn, slightly too big and a little damp in a few places, probably remnants of the fucking downpour earlier today. Finally his gaze rested upon her face and he found himself completely hypnotized by her ice blue eyes. It was a color he had never seen before, so bright and pure. Her long lashes shone in the midday sun and cast soft shadows on milky white skin, covered in light freckles. Gerard’s gaze wandered down to her lush lips. He swallowed when perfectly white teeth bit down on it. She seemed to be nervous about something, at the verge of freaking out, but he had absolutely no idea what it could be.

“W-would you… would you go to Prom with me?”, she finally asked him in a shaky voice while a pink flush crept across her cheekbones. Gerard barely resisted the urge to pinch himself, he was at an utter loss for words. Well, that was unexpected, to say the least. What the hell!? Usually he avoided those stupid parties like the plaque, he had never been there and didn't plan to break that habit in his final year. But for whatever reason his head nodded his consent and he stuttered out: “Uhm… yeah… why not?” Fuck, what was _wrong_ with him?! What had been in that sandwich his mum had made him for lunch?!

Cecilia let out a long breath and gave him the sweetest smile. His stomach did a somersault and he actually smiled back. “Thank you so much, that means a lot to me. Uhm… I better get going or Mr. Biersack will rip my head off. See you!”, she said and took off in a hurry. Gerard shook his head in a vain attempt to clear it and glanced at his watch. When he finally realized how late it was, he swore, flung his stuff into his bag and sprinted towards his chemistry class. Damn it, he was completely off track. Had he seriously agreed to go to Prom? With a girl he actually didn't know at all? Just fucking great, the guys were gonna have a field day. He just barely made it through the door before the last ring of the bell. Luckily Mr. Lazzara, their teacher, was not there yet, so he managed to quietly slip into his seat in the last row. Frank and Ray, his best friends, who were sharing his table, gave him odd looks. “What’s wrong, Gee? You look like shit!”, Frank whispered in a concerned voice. “Thanks, Frankie”, Gerard immediately shot back and rummaged around in his bag for his folder.

“Have you heard that Chuck’s gonna pay whoever goes too Prom with that little redhead… what’s her name… Celia or something?”, Ray asked him quietly, for their teacher had showed up after all and was giving them the umpteenth ‘These-exams-are-important-but-none-more-than-my-subject’-speech. “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”, Gerard muttered while cautiously glancing at Mr. Lazzara, who had proceeded to writing equations onto the blackboard. “Seriously, dude, you don’t pick up on anything, do you? Apparently he’s been bragging about it all day, everyone is talking about it! He’s gonna pay 50 bucks to whoever takes her to the dance and five hundred if you manage to fuck her afterwards and take a photo to prove it!”, Frank explained while copying the task they had been given into his folder. Holy shit! “How sick is that?!”, Gerard hissed back, but apparently a little too loud, because he caught Mr. Lazzara's death glare and ducked his head. The rest of the period passed in silence, but his mind was racing a mile a minute. Why had she asked him out? He didn’t get it, like at _all_. Gerard was unusually quiet for the rest of the day, but luckily Frank and Ray didn’t notice, they were totally engrossed in speculating who would end up pocketing Chucks reward.

When his last class came to an end – fucking _finally_ – he quickly bid them goodbye and practically ran out of the door. All his brooding had led him nowhere, but he just had to know why she had asked him of all people. Gerard was confused as hell and waited by the front doors. Hopefully she had not left already! For once he was lucky, he spotted her only a few minutes later. She was talking to some guy, one of the juniors, if he remembered correctly, and she didn’t seem to be too happy about it. Now the bloke actually laid his arm across her shoulders. That was when she looked decidedly uncomfortable and tried to wriggle out of his grip. Gerard huffed out a breath and walked towards them. He had no idea why he was doing it, but he ended up asking: “Cecilia, are you ready to go? I wanted to give you a ride home, remember?”

Her head snapped around, an expression of pure gratefulness upon her face. The guy begrudgingly let her go and looked him up and down as if he were some disgusting insect. Gerard didn't bat an eye, he simply gave him a challenging look and took Cecilia’s bag. She hid behind his back and he had to admit, protecting a girl from some idiot was kind of a good feeling. Strange, but good. “Come on, let’s go”, he said with a crooked smile and guided her towards the parking lot with his hand hovering over the small of her back. He really would have liked to touch her, but he had no idea whether he was allowed to, especially after that fucking retard he had just saved her from.

“Thank you”, Cecilia murmured as soon as they were out of earshot. “You’re welcome”, Gerard replied earnestly. “I just knew this was going to happen, he was the… fourteenth guy who asked me today? The fifteenth? I’ve already lost count”, she grumbled while kicking a stone into one of the bushes, that lined the parking lot. “Yeah, about that… I’ve actually wanted to ask you why you… asked _me_. I mean, you don’t even know me!”, he blurted out and fumbled for his keys before unlocking his silver Subaru XT. Man, he never would have thought he might actually be glad his mom had blackmailed him into washing it last weak. The things he did for a tankful... “You don’t have to drive me, you know? Really, thank you for getting rid of that idiot, but I’m gonna be fine”, she said instead of an answer. Gerard pointedly looked up to the sky, that was already clouding over again. Thunder was rolling somewhere in the distance and it had cooled off considerably. “… or maybe not. Thanks again”, she said with a crooked smile and climbed into the passenger seat.

“You didn’t answer my question”, he remarked as he pulled out into traffic. Cecilia sighed and bit her lip. “You’ve heard of Chuck’s stupid dare? Look, I heard some girls talk about it during lunch break and I just knew that loads of guys were going to ask me out, but that they all were going to be after the money and nothing else. So I decided to do this on my terms and ask someone I actually like instead of being dragged to that stupid party by one of those neanderthals”, she finally explained, but it did absolutely nothing to clear the chaos in Gerard’s head. Hang on. “You… y-you like me?”, he stammered like some fucking freshman on his first day at high school. Smooth. Very eloquent. “Well, sometimes I’ve seen you help some of the freshies when they get bullied and I know that, unlike others, you rather sit by yourself and write some stuff than parade around school as if you owned the place”, she answered in a tight voice. Gerard’s face was aflame, he had no fucking idea what he was supposed to say to that. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time anybody but his parents, brother or two best friends had said anything so _nice_ about him.

“Umm… I a-actually… draw… like, a lot. Pretty much all the time”, he offered weakly when the silence became unbearably tense. “What do you draw?”, she asked in a genuinely interested voice. “Cartoons and some… random stuff. I’d like to go to art college after… well, after… all that stuff”, Gerard babbled. God, he sounded like some fucking retard. “Oh, I’d love to see them sometime. I mean… if you want to show me. I love comics, but we don’t get any pocket money and I saved nearly all I earned during summer breaks for college, so…”, she trailed of and awkwardly stared down onto her hands. Wait… like, none at all? She didn’t get any money except for her fee for holiday work?! Gerard was at a loss for words. Again. Damn, his family wasn’t too well off either, but he did get the occasional extra from his granny and his parents gave them each a little bit every month. All of a sudden, he felt incredibly spoilt in comparison to her. And he realized that he had never really appreciated what he had always taken for granted.

Before he could stop himself, Gerard offered: “Well, I’ve got band practise today, but I could show you tomorrow… If you want to. Like, I could pick you up from school and… you could come to our house?” Hang on. He had _not_ said that out loud, had he? Shit. Nobody but Mikey, Ray and Frank had ever seen his cartoons. No one! But the way she beamed at him made his stomach flutter and he instantly grinned back. “I would love that. I haven’t seen anything but the orphanage and school in forever”, she exclaimed, still smiling. Wow. She said it as if it was no big deal, but Gerard would go nuts within a week if the house in front of them was anything like he imagined it to be. He had parked next to a rusty gate, that partially obstructed the view into a bleak concrete courtyard. The building itself had definitely seen better days as well, one of the windows was held together by some kind of tape and the once white fassade was crumbling and greying. Gerard had _definitely_ never appreciated, that he had grown up in a loving home with a brother, his own room, even if it was in the basement, and an actual garden. Hell, he even had his own car!

“You’re playing in a band?”, she asked excitedly and stared at him with wide, awestruck eyes. Holy shit, nobody had ever looked at him like that! “Uhm, yeah, with Ray and Frankie and Mikes. We don’t have a name or anything and we don’t have a drummer either, but… yeah”, he tried to explain. Maybe ‘band’ was a little bit of an overstatement, but still. Theoretically they _were_ a band, right? “That’s so cool, what do you play?”, she wanted to know. Yeah, about that… “I’m actually the singer. Well, I tried to play guitar, but I’m crap at it”, he mumbled. Wow, two full sentences without stuttering. He was kinda impressed by himself. “What about you? I mean… do you… play anything?”, he uttered, immediately falling back into the awkward stammering, that seemed to be pretty much persistend around her. ‘Damn it, get a grip, man’, he admonished himself, but was interrupted by her soft voice. “We have an old piano in there and one of the educators teaches me a little when she has time. And I love singing, but only to myself, I could never do that in front of people. But are you going to play somewhere anytime soon? I really want to see that!”, she asked him in return. Gerard swallowed. This entire conversation was so _weird_! He had not expected that much interest in the stuff he did to pass the time. “Umm, well, we’d need a drummer first, but… I’ll tell you as soon as I know … okay?”, he proposed and was rewarded with another one of her bright smiles and a flip of his stomach.

“Thanks again for the ride”, she finally said and opened her seatbelt. Gerard just smiled awkwardly and managed to say: “See you tomorrow then?” She nodded enthusiastically and squeezed his hand, that rested on the gearshift, before opening the door, jumping out in the rain and shouting: “See you tomorrow, Gerard!” He watched her run into the house, covering her head with her uniform jacket and jumping over the puddles, that had formed on the sidewalk. Somehow he felt shaken to the core and his hand was still tingling where she had touched it. This afternoon had tought him humility. Gerard glanced at his watch and swore before starting his car again and driving as fast as possible through the thunderstorm and to Frank’s house, where they usually met for band practise. His friend lived with his mother and was a single child, unlike the rest of them. Besides, his room was the biggest, therefore it had kinda become tradition to meet at the Iero's for jamming.

When he finally made it, he was fucking late. That was nothing new, especially not in his case, but Frank lived like two minutes from highschool. By foot. So there was absolutely no logic explanation why he should be more than fifteen minutes later than the others. Frank’s mom opened the door for him and he trudged up the stairs and into his room. “What the hell, Gee?! We were waiting for you! Where the fuck have you been?”, his brother demanded to know and threw him a nasty glance. Oh fuck, he had not even thought about how his friends would get here in this weather. They looked like drowned rats, even Ray’s afro had succumbed to the rain. “Shit, guys, I’m sorry. I thought Ray’s car...”, he tried to apologize, but his friend cut him off saying: “Man, you know it broke down last week! My brother drove me to school today, but I was kinda counting on you to take me home!” Damnit. Alright, he had messed up, there had been not a single thought inside his head besides Cecilia.

“Hey, what’s that dumb grin supposed to mean?”, Frank chimed in while rummaging in his closet for some dry clothes. Shit. He wasn’t grinning at all! “And _where the heck have you been_?”, Mikey repeated. His brother looked really pissed by now. “Looks like I’ve got a date for Prom. I drove her home and she’s coming over tomorrow and… oh _fuck_!”, he tried to explain until he remembered the state of his room. There was no way he could let her in there tomorrow! Shit! Ray was grinning like a ceshire cat, Frankie was doubling over with laughter and Mikey yelled “What the fuck?!” at the top of his lungs. “Are you serious?”, Ray asked immediately after that, but Gerard simply gave him an annoyed look. He had more important things to do than watch Frank lose it completely. By now his friend was lying on the ground, gasping for air. “Listen, guys, can we just cancel practise today? I really have to clean my room...”, he asked and was rewarded with totally dumbstruck looks on both Ray’s and Mikey’s faces. “Clean your room. _You_?!”, was all his baby brother said, before he grabbed his bag and his bass, yanked Gerard down the stairs and demanded: “Tell me everyting, dipshit!”

As soon as they got home, Gerard got hold of a roll of garbage bags and descended to his den in the basement. Now that he paid attention to it, the smell was pretty bad. Piles of laundry were stewn all over the room, with empty bottles and candy wrappers scattered inbetween. His desk was overflowing with half finished sketches, some of them joining the mess on the floor. Even his bed was littered with random stuff, games, books, whatever. Alright, this was going to be a fucking long evening. He started by stuffing his dirty clothes into a bag and carrying them to the utility room. After the third and last tour, he could actually see more than a few patches of the carpet for the first time in a while. To his surprise, Mikey was there when he came back, collecting the bottles and tossing him a garbage bag. “Get to work, you can’t let her in here like this! I don’t even know how you manage to walk through all this shit without tripping all the time!”, his brother ordered in a stern voice and laid down in order to peer underneath the bed. What the hell?! Where had that come from? Since when had his baby brother discovered his inner mother hen? “Dirt tracks, you kinda get used to it after a while”, Gerard murmured and startetd picking up all the junk and dirty dishes. It really was kinda disgusting.

He had never been bothered by the state of his room, but Cecilia had been so eager to see something else besides school and that horrible place she called home, that he wanted to… impress her? No, not that, but he wanted tomorrow to be a good day for her, even though he didn't quite understand why. Maybe out of compassion or something? Alright, their conversation a few hours ago had been kinda _nice_ , although in a weird way. And he could still picture her smile as if she were standing right in front of him. There was a strange, tingly feeling in his stomach, that had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he was starving. “What in the name of God is going on here?” His mother’s voice drew him out of his musings. She stood in the doorway, slack-jawed and her eyes wide in shock. Gerard rolled his own and huffed indignantly. He had gotten the message, _okay_? And he had spent the last couple of hours cleaning up his mess, so what was the big deal?

They had even opened the tiny window, his desk was nearly tidy and he was fucking _dusting_ , for crying out loud! Mikey had just finished arranging his Star Wars action figures on the newly cleaned shelf by his bed. All he had left to do, was going over the carpet with the vacuum cleaner and maybe scrub a little at the stains various snacks had left on the couch over the years. Without all the crap littered everywhere, the room actually seemed to be a whole lot bigger, Gerard had never realized how much space he had down here. “Gee's got a giiiirlfrieeeeend”, his brother explained in a sing-sang voice. Gerard groaned and threw the duster at him. “She's not my fucking girlfriend and you know it, dickhead”, he ground out trough gritted teeth and shot him a death glare.

“Gerard Arthur Way, I will not have any such language in this house!”, his mom scolded him. Well, at least she had finally gotten her shit together. “Sorry, mom”, he replied half-heartedly and closed the window. He really could do without a horde of fucking mosquitoes in his room tonight. “But she's still coming over tomorrow!” Mikey simply did not know when to shut up, never had and probably never would. “Oh my, when did you intend to tell me that, young man?”, his mother asked him with her hands stemmed into her hips. Uhmm like... not at all? “Listen, mom, she only wants to see my comics, I'll pick her up after school, show her my stuff and that's it! Wipe that stupid grin off your face, Mikey!”, Gerard tried to defend himself. His mom looked like Christmas had come early and squealed, actually _squealed_ like a fucking teenage girl. Lord have mercy, what had he gotten himself into?! “Nonsense, my dear boy, if you're going to have a girl come over tomorrow, I'll cook something nice and I'll clean that sofa of yours, you're going to need new sheets and maybe I can do something about that carpet...”, she started babbling and was out of the door before he could do so much as blink.

What on earth was happening?! And by the way - ‘my dear boy’? Gerard fought the urge to gag. She had not called him that since he had been like nine years old and he hadn't missed it at all! Damn, tomorrow was gonna be a nightmare! “Does she have a name?” There she was again, attacking his poor old couch with some kind of foam and then scrubbing at it as if she wanted to rip off at least three layers of fabric. “No, she doesn't, they gave her a number!”, Gerard bit out sarcastically. He was rapidly developing a headache and losing patience even faster. “Oh come on, get over it! I’m your mother, I’m allowed to be excited when you _finally_ bring home a girl for the very first time!”, his mother exclaimed, pointing her brush at him instead of her index finger. Great, just great. Gerard had a feeling he had grossly underestimated the consequences a short, awkward conversation during lunch break could have.

“Her name is Cecilia, she's a senior, she asked Gee to Prom today and he said yes”, Mikey said by the door. Alright, Gerard was gonna kill him! Suddenly his mom gave him a bone-crushing hug and _ruffled his hair_! No one would ever find his brother’s body… Gerard flipped him off behind their mother’s back, and pulled the index finger of his other hand in a very obvious motion across his throat. Mikey burst out laughing, blew him a kiss and made a run for it before he could escape their mom’s clutches. She was blabbing about some bullshit like buying a suit and flowers and what his date was going to wear and washing his car… hang on – _again_!? Gerard facepalmed hard enough for his eyes to water. Someone kill him. Like, right _now_ , please!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

He surveyed the yard, searching for a certain redhead. Gerard had been looking forward to lunch break all day, but he was kinda nervous, too. Last night had been horrible, he hadn’t slept at all, his brain simply wouldn’t shut up. So he had gotten up an hour earlier than usual, taken a shower, shaved and maybe even swiped a bit of his dad’s cologne. Cleaning himself so thoroughly on two days in a row was something of a rarity. Anyway, being awake so early definitely had its benefits, because he had been able to fully appreciate the cranky zombie-bitch his brother was before his first cup of coffee, something he usually missed due to being in a similar state. At least the little fucker had agreed to get home by himself today, so Gerard didn’t have to give him a ride. That was the very least Mikey owed him for yesterday evening, their mother had spent two whole hours polishing his room until it shone. She had even changed the bed linen and added half a million pillows he didn't need. This irrational affinity to useless textiles had to be a women’s thing, for he didn’t get it, like at all.

Finally, Gerard spotted a flash of red a few meters away. He instantly leapt to his feet and took off towards her. By the time he got there, she was surrounded by three different guys, who were all trying to ask her out, going on and on without a break. God, Gerard would never go so low, he did have some self-respect! "Hi, want to sit with us?", he asked her casually, immensely proud at himself for not stuttering. Her smile lit up her entire face and oh, there was that weird feeling in his stomach again. Damn, falling sick right before the finals would be shitty timing! “Gerard! Thank you, I’d love to”, she replied and he just had to smile right back at her. She seemed so genuinely happy to see him, but he still hadn't done anything to earn her… affection? Nope, wrong word, that sounded weird. Whatever, she turned around to the guys she had been talking to and said: “For the last time: I’m not going to Prom with you, I already have a date! Now leave me alone and go back to your little girlfriends with the fake lashes and fake smiles, they will miss you already. And Justin, I know for a fact that you’re going with Selena. This is low, even for you.”

After that, she tossed one of her thick, long braids over her shoulder and ditched them. Then she gave him an affectionate look and followed him back to the concrete stairs, that had kinda become their spot over the years. Gerard had not expected to be excited, but it was actually a good feeling to introduce a girl to his friends. Who would have thought? Not that she was his girlfriend or anything, but still. “Guys, I guess you know who Cecilia is. This is Mikey, my little brother, he’s a junior, and these two idiots are Ray Toro and Frank Iero, my best friends”, he said while slumping down in his usual spot. “Uhmm, hi, nice to meet you all”, she murmured and gingerly sat down beside him. Gerard had a damn hard time not laughing out loud at Frank’s and Ray’s faces. Toro was looking back and forth between them, his brow furrowed and his fingers scratching his wild brown curls. Frank, on the other hand, simply stared at him with eyes wide as saucers. They sat in absolute silence until Cecilia deadpanned: “Are they always that chatty?” That was it, Gerard couldn’t take it anymore and neither could Mikey. He burst out laughing, barely resisting the urge to snap a photo of his friends looking like dumb and dumber. He was so going to draw this later!

“So...”, Ray began, but was immediately cut off by Frank. “ _She’s_ your date for prom?!”, the small guy blurted out incredulously, apparently still in shock. Gerard couldn’t remember the last time he had been so smug about anything, even though it wasn’t even his merit at all. “Yeah, but _she_ asked _him_ ”, Mikey added in mischievously. He would have smacked the skinny little shit across the head for that, if his brother hadn't sat so far away from him. “Alright, come on, tell me more!”, Ray chimed in and Gerard gladly let Cecilia retell yesterday’s events. In the meantime, she pulled a slightly dented lunchbox out of her bag, that emerged to contain two puny cheese sandwiches and an apple. He looked down into his lap at the banana, the carrots, the tuna sandwiches and the pack of salted pretzels his mom had prepared for him and couldn't help but notice the difference. Maybe it would actually be a good idea to invite Cecilia to stay for dinner today.

Just as he had offered her some of his carrots and shared the banana with her (he had blatantly ignored his friend’s odd looks), a huge guy came walking towards them, his eyes fixed on Cecilia as if she were his prey. He was one of the football-players, at least six foot five and Gerard was no stranger to his so-called humor. It involved quite a lot of bags emptied all over the classroom, people stuffed into lockers (Frank, preferably, since he was short enough to fit in quite comfortably) and all kinds of more or less creative nicknames. His name was something with D, maybe Duncan or David… whatever. Anyway, he didn't even get to say a single word, because Cecilia immediately exclaimed: “Don’t even waste your breath, tripping me up in front of the entire school still hasn’t become funny since last week. And no, I’m not going to prom with you.” Mr. D actually looked surprised that he had been turned down, but that didn't stop him from saying: “Listen, that was just for fun, but...” They never got to hear what he was about to say, because Cecilia shot up from the grass and hissed with a snarl: “What part of ‘no’ didn’t make it into your thick skull? Let me spell it out for you again: N-O! Like, _no_! I’d rather go with a skeleton from science lab, it would make so much more intelligent conversation than you! And by the way, I already have a date, so tell all your friends to leave me the fuck alone! Now kindly piss off and find yourself a dumb little barbie doll to show off!”

The guy shrugged and stated: “You don’t know what you’re missing!” She snorted, looked him up and down and said: “Did you know that anabolics shrink your balls, reduce your sperm count and cause erectile dysfunction? I’m pretty sure I can do without that.” Gerard felt an overwhelming sense of pride rise within himself. She was awesome and so beautiful in her fury, pearly white teeth bared and icy blue eyes ablaze. He couldn't tear his own away from her. It was a damn good feeling to be the guy she had chosen to spend that evening with and he vowed here and now to make it special for her. He would even wash his goddamn car again and let his mom buy him a fucking suit if that helped. Apparently D-something couldn't think of a witty reply to that and toddled off, fucking finally. Cecilia sat down again and rummaged around in her bag before pulling out a sheet of Paper, some tape and a permanent marker. She wrote ‘No, I’m **not** going to prom with you!’, fixed a bit of the tape on top of it and put it on her back, facing the yard. “I really hope that helps, he was number 27, today I’ve counted and I swear, at least half of them were sophs or freshies”, she explained and went right back to eating her sandwiches, as if nothing had happened. Gerard simply couldn't help the wide grin, that spread across his face. “That bit about anabolics was fucking great”, Frankie said after a while and they all shared a good laugh before they had to head back inside for their next classes. By the time Gerard slumped down in his chair, he was already counting the minutes until the day would finally be over and he'd have her all to himself again. He didn't even try to fight the thought, that he would very much like to actually _have_ her for real.

Needless to say, he was the first to leave the room as soon as the bell rang. Today he had parked his car right in front of the gym, since the girls of their year had P.E. every Tuesday during the final period. Gerard never would have thought that one day he would be one of the guys, who were casually leaning against the hood of their cars while waiting for their girl, but he kinda liked it. Especially the part of someone besides his family and two best friends wanting to spend time with him. As soon as she set eyes on him, her face lit up with that smile he had already come to think of as his. His stomach did that thing again and a tiny voice inside his head whispered that he might not be falling sick after all, at least not the way he had understood it so far. Just like himself, she had already changed out of her uniform and wore a high-necked, knee-length tartan dress with a big white collar. To be honest, she looked exactly like one would imagine a girl living in a state-run institution to look like, but he actually found it kinda cute. Okay, Gerard had probably never used that word before, except when it came to puppies or stuff like that.

He started walking as soon as he noticed another guy going for her. Luckily, he got to her first and conspicuously took her bag. To his utter surprise (okay, shock was kinda more on point), she slid her delicate hand into his and started asking him about his last classes. The guy miraculously backed off and Gerard took a deep breath before admitting that he hadn't been able to concentrate all that much. Neither could he now, the feeling of her hand in his was too delicious and all he could focus on. He had never held hands with a girl before. Well, actually he didn’t touch people at all, like, nobody but his friends and family. Unless he had to, of course, that was one of the reasons he hated P.E. that much, he would never become a judoka.

As soon as the door of his Subaru closed behind her, Cecilia let out a quiet sigh. “I’m gonna be so glad when this will be over and I never have to see those idiots ever again”, she exclaimed with her eyes still closed. “Same here”, Gerard chuckled while starting the car and pulling out of his parking spot. All of a sudden he was nervous again. He knew she had been looking forward to seeing his comics and he really, really didn’t want to disappoint her. “Uhmm… I was wondering… what kind of m-music you like?”, he finally managed to say. Just great, the fucking stammering was back. Another sigh. “Look, they are really strict at the orphanage. We have a radio, but the nurses decide what stations we listen to, because they don’t want us to fight over it. The problem is, that the youngest of them is like fifty or something. So all we get is shitty old pop music. Okay, there is one, who sometimes plays some Rock ’n’ roll, but she only works part-time and is hardly ever there”, she explained after a while. Gerard’s mouth fell open and all of a sudden, he had a really hard time focusing on driving. “Are you _serious_?!”, he gasped incredulously. Remember how he had thought he would go insane after a week if he had to live like her? Scratch that, three days would totally do the job.

When he glanced over at her, she shrugged, but there was a smile playing on her lips. “Well, that’s why I bought an old portable CD Player and earphones at a thrift store two years ago. But I only have some of the basic stuff, like Michael Jackson, Queen, Elvis and the Beatles – in other words, people even I’ve heard of. I’m hiding it underneath a loose deal board beneath my bed and only take it out at night. But don’t tell anyone, there are some people from the orphanage at school, who would dob me to the nurses in an instant”, she admitted sheepishly. Gerard really wanted to say ‘That’s my girl’, but that sounded kinda creepy, so he bit his tongue and went for: “Sneaky, I like it.” She laughed at that, giving him another stomach-flutter.

“Oh, it’s not _that_ interesting. But I never even asked you what kind of band you actually play in yesterday, did I? You only said that you were the singer, played with your friends and your brother and that you needed a drummer, right?”, she dismissed his compliment, but he still caught the faint blush, that crept across her cheeks. “Uhmm… yeah, we play quite a lot of… stuff. Mostly punk rock, but that kinda sucks without a drummer. We do covers, but we’re gonna try to write some of our own songs this summer. Don’t know how that will turn out, though”, Gerard answered after a while. He was slowly overcoming the stuttering, thank god for that. By the way, he couldn’t help but be kinda pleased, because she remembered pretty much every single thing he had said yesterday. “I’d love to hear them”, she said quietly. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to come up with an answer to that, because they had arrived at his parent’s house.

It wasn’t much, but it was home... and thereby more than Cecilia had ever had. Gerard cautiously took her hand again and led her through the door. Thank god his parents were still out working. He showed her around the kitchen and the living room, before descending to his basement bedroom. Fuck, he had never been so nervous before! She stood inside his sanctuary and took everything in as if it were everything she had ever dreamed of. “I would kill for a room like this”, were her first words after what felt like an eternity. Gerard released a breath he had not even realized he had been holding. “Uhmm… glad you like it”, he muttered in response and dropped their bags into a corner. “Like it? This is so much better than I imagined!”, she said with bright eyes and a _his_ smile. A warm, fuzzy feeling spread throughout Gerard’s chest and suddenly he couldn't wait to show her his drawings. Therefore he grabbed some of the sketch-books he had carefully sorted yesterday and slumped down onto the couch. She was by his side in a heartbeat, pulling her stocking-clad feet up underneath her dress. It was nice sitting like that with her, somehow… homey? And it felt so fucking right! Gerard shook himself out of his weird thoughts and opened the first book. She scrambled closer and reached for it when he offered it to her.

“Oh my god, Gerard, this is so beautiful! I wish I could draw like that”, she whispered and carefully turned the pages with her fingertips. He swallowed and awkwardly shifted in his seat. Gerard didn’t need a mirror to know that he had probably never blushed so violently in his entire life. But damn, it felt _good_! Was that what they called a praise-kink? It seemed to him as if every compliment, that left her luscious lips, made him grow another inch. Not what you were thinking! Like, _all_ of him, goddammit! At some point her fingers sneaked back between his and he gave her hand a soft squeeze. She was still absolutely over the moon about his doodle and for the first time in forever he felt like he had accomplished something really good all by himself. Gerard readily answered all her questions and realized once again how little she knew of all the things, that belonged to his life like Mario to Princess Peach. Like, superheroes, Star Wars or some movie scenes he had recreated. Eventually they made it to his most recent sketch-book. Gerard held his breath when she flipped open the cover. Not even his friends had seen that one yet, it wasn’t even half finished. A few days ago he had had a dream of a marching band or some kind of procession and this was what had arisen from it. He imagined it to be some kind of life after death, maybe an intermediate dimension between life and whatever was waiting for all of them on the other side.

“You really have a gift, Gerard, this is crazy. I can’t even imagine what you’ll do once you’ve finished art college”, Cecilia said with a warm glow of admiration in her icy blue eyes. She looked a him as if he had hung the moon and, fuck yeah, he couldn’t get enough of it. This was so new to him, all of it, but he would be damned if he didn’t enjoy it as long and as thoroughly as possible. Silence stretched between them, but it was neither awkward nor uncomfortable. They sat on his old, battered couch, gazes locked onto each other’s eyes. He couldn't have looked away if his life had depended on it. “Gerard?”, she whispered after a while and broke their eye contact in order to look down at her hands. “D-Do you… have a girlfriend?”, Cecilia stammered in a manner, that was usually reserved for himself. The question was so absurd that he snorted in bitter amusement and answered: “Never been asked that before.” She didn't move at all, as if she was still awaiting an actual answer, even if to Gerard it was painfully obvious.

“No, I don’t. I mean, look at me, who would want me anyway?”, he finally said with a heavy sigh. It was true, though. No matter how this afternoon was easily one of the best he had ever had, hoping for anything more than friendship from her was just plain fucking stupid. He was this pale weirdo with the greasy black hair, who liked D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini and croquet, but could neither swim nor dance or do karate. He should know better. “Well… I do”, she whispered so quietly, that he nearly would have missed it. Gerard's rapidly down-spiraling thoughts came to a screeching halt as his head snapped up and he stared at her. What the bloody hell?! She couldn’t mean what he thought he had heard! “What?”, was his admittedly very eloquent response. She swallowed heavily before repeating: “I do. Not… like… have a girlfriend, obviously, I’m not into… uhm… I mean, like… want you.” Gerard was at an utter loss for words. Shouldn’t the guy be the one to make the first move? “Look, I get it if… it’s okay if you don’t… w-want me like that and I know that w-we’ve only really gotten to know each other yesterday, but… uhm… I’vehadacrushonyou foryearsnow and I’dliketobeyourgirlfriend”, she stammered as he had sat rooted to the spot for an entire minute or more. She spoke faster and faster towards the end, Gerard could hardly make out the words, but he did catch her meaning. His brain was in overdrive and would not give him even the slightest hint at how to react to a declaration like this, so he went with his gut and pulled her into his arms.

He could literally feel her releasing the breath she had been holding. Cecilia melted into his embrace and rested her forehead in the crook of his neck. It was strange and new, slightly awkward due to the uncomfortable angle, but Gerard was completely overwhelmed with endorphins. This was the most intimate he had ever touched a girl and it felt fucking amazing, even though it was just a hug. “I’d like that. I… like you too”, he finally managed to say and was rewarded with a quiet sigh and her snuggling up to his side. There was no way he could tell how long they had been sitting there, it could have been a minute or half an hour, but at one point she drew back and gave him his very own smile. Gerard involuntarily smiled back and carefully caressed her cheek with the tips of his fingers. He felt her breath catch in her throat and could literally see her racing heartbeat pulse at the side of her slender throat. Somehow he stopped breathing altogether and swallowed before slightly leaning in. Gerard desperately kept his eyes open and tried to estimate whether the angle was right or not as her delicious lips drew closer and closer. He could feel her shallow breath ghosting across his skin, there were only a few millimeters left between their lips.

“Gerard, come up for dinner!”, his mom yelled down the stairs. They jumped apart as if stung by an adder. Gerard gasped for air and met Cecilia’s shocked, wide-eyed stare. But then she threw back her head and bubbled over with laughter. Gerard couldn’t keep it together anymore, either. “Damn it, timing!”, he chuckled and shook his head. For all her enthusiasm for him bringing home a girl, his mom wasn’t exactly helping her own quest to play matchmaker. “Would you like to stay for dinner?”, he asked his girlfriend. Fuck, _girlfriend_ , how had that happened so fast!? “I’d love to. Thank you”, she answered and wiped her eyes, still sparkling with mirth. God, she was so beautiful! Gerard let her climb the stairs first, so that he could subtly rearrange his clothes without her noticing. As innocent as it had been, that almost-kiss had given him a raging boner and he needed neither her nor his mom to see it. Thankfully, the jeans he had changed into before waiting for her in the parking lot were not too tight and his Iron Maiden shirt was long and would cover most of it. This was going to be a long dinner. And he had not even taken his mother’s inevitable embarrassment into the equation, yet.

Actually Gerard had wanted to introduce her to his parents himself, but his mother beat him to it. Just typical. “Oh, you must be Gerard’s girlfriend!”, she squealed as soon as they entered the living room. He heroically suppressed the urge to facepalm while watching his brother giving in to the very same at the other side of the room. Fuck, he was so glad she actually _was_ his girlfriend by now, otherwise this would have been the epitome of awkward. Which it still might become, mind you, this was his mom he was talking about! “Yes, my name is Cecilia Carmichael”, she said with a polite smile, squaring her shoulders and raising her chin. She was so brave and a lot more so than Gerard himself. “Uhmm, this is my mom Donna and over there is my dad Donald. And you’ve met Mikey during lunch break”, he saw to the remaining introductions. “Nice to meet you. And thank you very much for the invitation”, his girlfriend officially greeted his parents, who came over to shake her hand. Gerard could tell they were pleased by her good manners.

Next he caught his brother’s questioning gaze. Mikey really was the master of silent eye brow communication, no one else could express so much with a single shift of his facial expression. _Hang on, I thought she was_ not _your girlfriend?_ , was written all over his forehead as he furrowed his brow and slightly narrowed his eyes. Gerard gave him a wink and a wide smile transmitting _You’re not quite up to date, Mikeyway._ His brother’s face split into a huge grin and he fondly shook his head as if he wanted to say _I totally knew this would happen, dude._ Whatever. Their quiet exchange was interrupted by his mother, who exclaimed: “Oh, you are welcome, dear, I’m so happy one of them finally manned up and brought somebody home, they are eighteen and seventeen years old, for Christ’s sake, and that’s never happened before!” “MOM!”, Gerard cried out in horror and unison with his brother. God, with family like this, who needed enemies? He really, really wished the ground would open up and swallow him. “Well, then that’s a first for everybody”, Cecilia chimed in and broke the awkward tension. She gingerly took his hand and squeezed it with a reassuring smile. Gerard had absolutely no idea how he ever deserved her, but he was so fucking grateful, that it was _her_ by his side right now.

Luckily, they were saved by the ring of a kitchen timer his mother must have set and she hurried off to take whatever out of the oven. “You must excuse my wife. She means well, but sometimes her enthusiasm can be a bit overwhelming”, his dad said with a sheepish grin and an inviting gesture towards the table. “There is nothing to excuse, Mr. Way”, his girlfriend replied and Gerard carefully pulled back a chair for her. He had no idea whether he had done it right, but his dad gave him a proud look, so he had probably gotten it okay. Damn, he never would have expected this evening to turn into so much emotional stress! His mom brought out a huge pot of Lasagna and started loading everyone’s plates. Gerard couldn’t help but grin in anticipation. He considered himself American, but when it came to food, he definitely couldn’t deny his Italian roots. Hence his addiction to pizza. Thank god his mother’s side had been dominant in that aspect, he couldn’t imagine drooling over this haggis stuff. That was cooked in a sheep’s stomach, for fuck’s sake! Even if his dad was proud of being Scottish, he really didn’t want to even come near _that_.

His mom said grace and he tried not to stuff his face with food like he usually did. Even Mikey was at his best behavior and their mother’s borderline shocked face was totally worth the effort. She glanced back and forth between them and opened her mouth several times as if to say something, but she never did. At least it distracted her from Cecilia and Gerard was thankful for that. His girlfriend was busy making small talk with his dad, anyway. He could tell his old man was genuinely charmed by her and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. This whole thing had gone way better than he had anticipated. The rest of the meal went off without a hitch. After having fed them up with her great lasagna, his mom produced a pot of tiramisu. Damn, he definitely would invite Cecilia over again as soon as possible, if it meant being spoiled like that! Actually he had planned to take her back down to his room as soon as they had finished desert, but somehow they ended up staying for coffee. To his utter surprise, his girlfriend had never had any before. Jesus, he couldn’t believe it! Gerard really didn't want to imagine having to live without his drug of choice. If he were to pick three items to take to a lonely island, coffee supplies would damn well be one of them! He offered her to try a sip from his cup before getting her own. That earned him a look from Mikey, that said _Oh my god, if he’s sharing his coffee, this is getting serious!_ Yeah, his brother could totally go fuck himself.

By the end of the evening, Cecilia was on a first-name basis with both of his parents. Gerard was so fucking relieved that they got along so well, he had feared the worst. But as great as it was, he wanted to have her all to himself again. “Do you want to go downstairs again? We could watch a movie or something”, he proposed after a while. She gave him his smile and answered: “Sounds great, but I think I should call the orphanage first, I didn’t expect to stay out so late.” Gerard bit his lip and contemplated his possibilities for a second, but then he just went for it. “You now, you could stay the night if you want to. I’d sleep on the couch and you could have the bed”, he whispered into her ear. He could practically feel the heat, that radiated off her cheek as she blushed. Damn it, he could already sense another twitch in his crotch. She was gonna be the death of him. “I’ll have to ask permission for that”, she finally said, biting her lip and looking up at him through her long lashes. Damn, that didn't exactly help the crotch situation, like, at all.

While his girlfriend was on the phone, Gerard busied himself with preparing some snacks in the kitchen and his mom carried some extra bedding down the stairs. He arranged a few cans of soda and a big bowl of popcorn on a tray and took it back into the living room. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to eat all that by himself. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Cole! No… yes, I promise. Thanks again… yes, good night”, Cecilia said with a huge grin on her face and hung up. “I’ve always been so jealous of all the other kids, who had friends, that invited them for sleepovers”, she admitted sheepishly and blushed yet again. Gerard found it utterly adorable. “Let’s go, I already have a movie in mind and it’s pretty long, so we better get started”, he suggested and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the door to his room shut behind them. “I like them”, she remarked while studying his admittedly quite meager DVD-collection. He couldn’t help but smile at that. “And they like you, especially my dad. But I’m actually really glad my mom didn’t smother you to death with all that enthusiasm”, he replied as he sat everything down onto his desk.

“Is there anything you need for tonight?”, he asked her courteously. Damn, he was actually pretty impressed by himself for even considering the fact that she might want a nightgown or whatever girls needed for sleeping. Come on, wasn’t that grown up and responsible? “Uhmm, well, I packed my toothbrush, but I didn’t bring any clothes. I’ll change at school tomorrow, I have something in my locker. Could you borrow me a shirt for tonight?”, she murmured sheepishly, blushing yet again. Gerard swallowed. The mere thought of her wearing his stuff resulted in images, that were definitely not g-rated any more. Since he didn’t know what to say, her gave her an old Misfits shirt of his and proposed: “What about The Lord of the Rings? We could start with the first movie and watch the others some time these days?” And yes, he had definitely chosen a trilogy on purpose. Therefore he had an absolutely foolproof excuse to invite her here again. Twice! She beamed at him and said: “Oh my god, I’ve been _dying_ to see this! That’s my favorite book!” Gerard grinned back. He would definitely help her develop her nerdiness!

A few minutes later they sat next to each other on his bed, propped against the mountain of pillows his mom had put there and okay, Gerard begrudgingly admitted that the blasted things _did_ have their perks. This was far more comfortable than leaning against the wall with nothing inbetween. Galadriel’s voice started explaining how the rings of power were forged and Cecilia leaned forwards, an expression of pure wonder gracing her features. So beautiful. However, Gandalf had just arrived at Bag End when he noticed the goose bumps on her arms. Even in June, his basement was always kinda chilly, especially at night. He was really glad for that during the hot months of summer, but it seriously sucked balls in winter. To the point of him moving in with Mikey and sharing a bed with his brother. Gerard carefully pulled up a blanket and wrapped it around them both. She sighed quietly and immediately shifted closer. Cecilia looked up at him through her lashes and murmured: “Uhmm, Gerard, would it be okay if we… like, cuddled up a bit? Only a little! I’ve always gotten cold very easily and...” She trailed off towards the end, but well, she’d never have to beg him a second time for _that_.

He tried to smile reassuringly and lifted his arm in a silent invitation. She shifted even closer and snuggled up into his side, her head resting in the crook of his neck and her body pressed up to his for warmth. Apparently she really was cold, Gerard even felt the chill of her hands through his t-shirt. He pulled up the blanket and tugged it in around her shoulders. She sighed contentedly, gently rubbed her cheek against his shirt and relaxed into his touch. But damn, it felt _good_! Gerard had never experienced anything like it before. He tried his best to remain calm and took a deep breath in order to control his body’s reactions to her. Fuck, that had been a bad idea. She was close enough for him to smell her. Her scent was an intriguing mix of soap, clean clothes and something subtle underneath it all, something he could only describe as utterly female. It was intoxicating, to say the least. Gerard really had to focus on the movie and slightly bend his knees. There was no way in hell he would let her see what she did to him, especially now, not even a day into their relationship! However hard it was, he would not scare her away, just because his fucking cock couldn’t behave!

Gerard spent the entire movie watching her and trying his very best to reign in his fucking prick. Needless to say, he failed miserably. Cecilia was so beautiful. How had he not even noticed her before she asked him out yesterday?! He was so utterly captivated, that he even forgot about the popcorn he had made, only when he had to exchange the first DVD for the second did they help themselves to some soda. Every single one of her emotions showed on her expressive face. Amusement when Merry and Pippin blew up the dragon firecracker, genuine shock when the ring wraiths butchered the empty beds in the prancing pony and pure wonder when the hobbits finally reached Rivendell. She was crying when Gandalf fell down the bridge of Khazad-dûm and sobbing when Boromir died in Aragorn’s arms. Her tears did funny things to Gerard. He cradled her to his chest and whispered soft nothings into her ear, but actually he wanted to punch someone for making her cry in the first place. Luckily it was over pretty soon after that. ‘I’m glad you’re with me.’ The movie's last sentence hit him square in the chest. He was so fucking glad she was with him. She probably could have had every single guy at school, but she had chosen _him_ as her date for Prom. If things had gone differently, she might be with one of those assholes right now. The mere thought of her in someone else’s bed made his chest tight and his hands shake. Gerard held her close. God, how he wanted to kiss her! To never let her go again, to make her his! He wanted this to work so badly, whatever it was, that was developing between them.

“Thank you so much, Gerard, you have no idea how much that meant to me”, she whispered while the credits rolled and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. “Glad you liked it”, he replied and kissed the top of her head, cause it just felt right. Only afterwards did he realize what he had done. Shit! He could feel himself freaking out, but she played it absolutely cool and simply stated: “How the heck did they even film that? I mean, all those orcs? Or the eye? And the size differences, aren’t the hobbits played by fully grown actors?” He couldn’t help but smile at her curiosity. “Well, there’s quite a lot of bonus material, like, three hours or something...”, he said, quietly smiling to himself. Yay, that gave him an excuse to invite her over at least _five_ more times! She looked up at him with literal puppy dog eyes. Oh shit, he was in fucking trouble. She probably could make him do anything if she gave him that look.

“Tomorrow?”, he proposed and was rewarded with a blinding smile. Her eyes sparkled in the low light, her entire face was aglow with happiness. How had he even managed to find himself this heavenly creature for a girlfriend? “I’d love to, Gerard!”, she whispered. Damn, the L-word and his name in one sentence! He really hoped to hear those three words from her one day. For real. Fuck, what the fucking hell was wrong with him? How had she turned him from a tough punk kid to a cinnamon roll so quickly? His head was spinning and he was seriously afraid his exploding blood pressure might blow an artery somewhere. “You know, y-you can call me Gee. All my friends do, but just if you… want to”, he stammered meekly, just to say anything at all. Her smile got even wider and she slightly shook her head. “But your name is so special! I love it, it’s so unique and sensual”, she protested with pouty lips. Holy shit, that was even worse than the puppy dog eyes! But – _sensual_? What the heck! It was only a name, for crying out loud! “It is. It’s so beautiful, just like you”, she insisted. _What!?_ Never before had anyone but his grandma called him that. And grandmas didn’t count, they were kinda biased.

However, every witty reply he might have come up with died at the tip of his tongue. Gerard just didn’t have it in him to object when she was taking in his face with such… awe? Reverence? He didn’t deserve being looked at like that. All it took to confirm that was a glance into the next mirror. There was absolutely nothing special about him, he had neither Mikey’s striking features nor Frankie’s easy smile or Ray’s strong build. He was so fucking ordinary and he had no damn idea what she even saw in him. Still, the way she looked at him had his stomach flip and his breath hitch. And suddenly it just… happened. All at once she was shockingly close to him. She stretched a little and her lips hovered over his. Gerard didn’t dare to do so much as breathe. Was this going to be it? His very first kiss? They sat like this for quite a while, frozen it time. The tension quickly became unbearable. Fuck it, he was the guy! _He_ should make a move on her, not the other way around! Up until now it had somehow all come from her, except for his inapt invitation to come over today. That gave him the courage he needed to close the distance and carefully cover her lips with his.

The first tentative contact sent a shiver down his spine. God, it was so soft and warm! He immediately pulled back and hesitantly leaned in again when she didn’t flinch or slap him or something. The second time was even better, he dared to push a little harder into the kiss and wrapped both arms around her shoulders, one of his hands gently caressing her hair. She sighed against his mouth and melted into his embrace. Gerard had no fucking clue what he was doing, so he went with his gut and tried to turn off his brain, that kept worrying about stuff like bad breath and too much saliva. Her gorgeous lips parted a little and he should probably do something with his tongue at this point, but he was too chicken to try it. He would definitely _not_ ruin his first kiss by making a fool of himself. But still, he carefully sucked at her bottom lip and could actually taste her for the very first time. God, he never would have thought he would enjoy this so much! She tasted like innocence and the soda they had had, it was fucking great. Gerard’s body urged him to go for it and take all he could get, but his mind was screaming at him that neither of them were ready for more. He really wasn’t.

You’d think that eighteen years were more than enough time to come to terms with the idea of actually having sex with a girl, but apparently not in his case. Gerard had always been a loner, he simply did not do people. This entire thing with Cecilia was so out of his comfort zone, he didn’t even recognize himself anymore. He needed time to get his shit together. And even more than that, he needed a long talk with Frankie, because he knew for a fact that, unlike himself, his friend had gotten rid of his virginity a while ago. Yeah. He had to do this right, he owed her that much. Therefore he gently pulled back and cupped her cheek in his hand. Cecilia's eyes were still closed, but she smiled softly. “We should probably go to bed, it’s nearly midnight”, Gerard whispered quietly. His cock was rock hard and cursing him for his gentlemanly behavior, but he stayed strong and kept his distance. Not today. They had only really known each other for a day and he wanted their first time to be more than a quick fuck. He wanted it to mean something. Damn, she had really turned him into a softie!

“Okay. I’ll go to the bathroom then”, she readily replied. His girlfriend crawled out from under the blanket, but before she slid off the bed, she gave him the sweetest kiss to the cheek and murmured: “That was the perfect first kiss.” And then she grabbed her bag and the shirt he had given her and was out of the door in the blink of an eye. Gerard stayed back, completely dumbstruck. Okay. Apparently he wasn’t a hopeless case when it came to kissing. Who would have thought? He collapsed into the fucking mountain of pillows his mom had piled onto his bed and had to fight down a bout of hysteric laughter. That had been it? For years he had been panicking over having to come close to a girl and avoided any situation that might have led to it, but it had been surprisingly… pleasant. Alright, who was he kidding, it had been fucking great and he was still achingly hard because of it. Still, it hadn’t been half as frightening as he had always imagined it to be and that kinda gave him hope that he might survive actual sex without having a panic attack. He could do this. It was Cecilia. Beautiful, understanding, innocent Cecilia. She wouldn’t judge him. And she’d never laugh at him if he made a fool of himself. Gerard took a deep breath and got up in order to rummage through his wardrobe for something to wear to bed. He usually slept naked, but that was out of the question for today, so he settled for some old shirt and a pair of loose boxers. Yeah, that might work. At least his fear of failure when it came to sex had taken care of his erection, thank god for that.

A few minutes later he tried to get comfortable on his old, battered couch. It was kinda strange hearing her soft breaths in the bed next to him, usually there was nothing but the faint noise of traffic and sometimes the snore of one of his friends to distract him from sleeping. “Umm… Gerard? Are you still awake?”, she whispered half an hour, three minutes and twenty six seconds after they had said good night. Gerard had spent the time staring at the bright red numbers of his alarm clock and trying in vain to fall asleep. “Yeah, I am”, he said and propped himself up on one of his elbows. “Well… I’m actually still quite cold and I was wondering if… you could, like… sleep with me? I mean, NO! I mean… sleep _next_ to me!”, she blurted out. He swallowed hard, but couldn’t help but smile to himself. “S-sure”, he replied readily and got up. Gerard spread his blanket over her petite body and took a deep breath before he slipped underneath hers.

The bed was definitely a lot more comfortable than the couch, but he was so fucking tense, because his body was hyper aware of her closeness. Cecilia immediately scooted closer and ended up with her head on his shoulder and one of her hands on his chest. She snuggled up to his body and nestled her cheek down into the crook of his neck. Oh god, this was too good to be true! Her warm body next to his felt as if it belonged right there, so damn right. Gerard hesitantly wrapped his arm around her tiny waist and pulled her closer. Was that okay? He had no fucking idea. This was probably the moment he normally would have freaked out, but somehow her hot, regular breath against his skin was utterly calming. He couldn’t keep his eyes open and his frantic heartbeat calmed down. Gerard didn’t even realize it, but withing seconds all the emotional stress of the day took its toll and he was out like a light.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Two weeks later he was pacing around his parent’s living room. The past few days had been the most confusing, stressful and exhausting, but also the best ones of his life. His mom had paid a visit to St. Peter’s Orphanage and asked Mrs. Cole, the director, to let Cecilia spend the last few days of term with him. Gerard had no idea how she had managed to convince the old harridan, but in the end she had given in and allowed his girlfriend to stay at his family’s house. He had been over the moon, it was actually kinda scary how quickly he had gotten used to her presence by his side. Anyway, for the most part they had spent their days studying for the finals. Gerard had never been an A-student, but he really had tried his best and Cecilia had definitely helped him a lot. Before she had come into the equation, these exams had been hardly more than a necessary evil, but now he wanted to do good. For her. She had been so patient when she had explained that Math crap to him over and over again. He’d just never get it. Whatever. In exchange he had supported her a little in science and art. It had worked really well and he had a feeling that he never would have survived that last week without her. So yeah, studying together had kinda saved his sorry ass, he never would have put that much effort into it by himself.

Actually living with her had been even better. They still slept in his bed together every night and even waking up had become somewhat bearable, because now it was to her beautiful face. Gerard would die for her sensual good-morning-kisses. Those usually led to his newly found habit of showering every goddamn morning. Yeah, showering. Him. Every morning. He still couldn’t quite believe it himself, but he kinda didn’t want to be smelly around her and he had grown to love the way she played with his hair and tenderly scratched his scalp, so he tried to keep the greasiness at bay... You totally bought that, didn’t you? Bullshit, the shower was pretty much his only chance at jerking off! And he really needed that, otherwise he probably would have found out by now what color came next after one’s balls had been blue for too long. The problem was that they were together pretty much 24/7 (he definitely wasn’t complaining!) and he simply couldn’t ignore how much she turned him on any longer. Only thinking about her now made him half hard within seconds. So yeah, he definitely needed his morning wank. Even though every time he turned up for breakfast freshly showered, his mom gave him odd looks. Oh, and Mikey mercilessly laughed and hurled all kinds of innuendos at him whenever he got him alone, the little fucker.

Speaking of which… they still hadn’t had sex. But it might or might not happen tonight. At least this time he was kinda prepared. When he had gone out to wash his car again yesterday, he had taken the opportunity to discreetly buy a few condoms and a bottle of lube. Gerard didn’t even know whether the size was right, he had just grabbed the first pack he had gotten a hold of and hurried out of that drug store as quickly as possible. And he totally could have done without the amused face of that old cashier lady! Oh, and he had managed to ask Frankie a few things about sex. His friend hadn’t made it awkward or anything, but unfortunately he hadn’t had the ultimate foolproof advice either. Go slow, do what feels right, prepare her a little and jerk off before you get to it so you last a little longer, if you can. Yeah. He never would have thought of that. Gerard had watched enough porn to know what went where and his dad had tried to have an awkward conversation about the birds and the bees with him a few years ago. That memory haunted him to this day, he had mumbled something about sex ed at school and made a run for it. Still, theory and practice were two very different kettle of fish... Quiet steps down the hall made him turn around and then all his thoughts came to a screeching halt and his jaw hit the floor with a bang.

His mom had insisted on helping Cecilia get ready for Prom today. Something about being a hairdresser and finally having a girl to spoil or whatever. The two of them had grown really close over the last two weeks, his mother had even accompanied his girlfriend for dress-shopping! But seeing her like this… _god_ , she was so beautiful! She wore a bright-red, voluminous, floor-length satin skirt and a tight top, that perfectly hugged her slim figure and her firm breasts. In between flashed a narrow strip of creamy skin, right where one of his hands would have to go if he were crazy enough to try and dance. Her gorgeous hair fell in a waterfall of big curls over one of her shoulders and down to her waist, the ends nearly covering the tiny part of naked skin and emphasizing it even more. But her face! The freckles had disappeared beneath a thin layer of make up, her eyes were huge and sparkling and that red lipstick drove him completely crazy. Gerard had never seen her wearing make up before and barely recognized the heavenly creature before him. He could only stare at her and nearly would have dropped the flower corsage in his hands. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined himself going to Prom with a beauty like her. This was unreal.

“Wow”, he managed to say after an eternity of awestruck goggling. Cecilia breathed a sigh of relief and slightly sagged against the doorway she had been standing in. “You think this is okay?”, she asked bashfully and straightened out some non-existent wrinkles in her skirt. _Okay?_ “I think ‘stunning’ is more like it. You look fucking awesome”, Gerard told her honestly. He shook himself out of his stupor and carefully took her hand in order to slip the corsage onto her wrist. It was made of three red roses, some green stuff and a bit of red ribbon. Yeah, okay, so his mom had bought it for him, how was he supposed to know it was expected of a guy to strap flowers to his date’s arm? That silly tradition had definitely been introduced by women! To make matters worse, he had to wear a matching boutonniere. That in itself wasn’t a problem, but there was a needle on it and Gerard fucking hated needles, okay?! He really hoped he wouldn’t end up with an impromptu nipple piercing before the night was over. “Thank you, this is perfect”, his girlfriend murmured as she tentatively caressed the rose petals and breathed in their sweet scent. And there it was. _His_ smile. Gerard would probably wear a thousand fucking boutonnieres only for that.

Cecilia reached out and adjusted his black bow tie. “You look great, you know? Have I ever told you that I have a thing for men in suits?”, she whispered against his lips before she kissed him passionately. Ahmm… no, probably not, but Gerard carefully filed that bit of information away for later use. And the way she pulled him close by the lapels of his suit was definitely worth the agonizing afternoon he had spent in a men's outfitter a few blocks down the road. His mom had made him try pretty much every damn outfit they had had there, like a fucking kid in a candy store. Or one of those creepy little girls, who did all kinds of scary stuff to their Barbie dolls. All that flashed through his mind in the fraction of a second before it was once again wiped clean by the enticing woman in his arms. Gerard circled her tiny waist with his hands and moaned into the kiss when his fingers met her bare skin. He slid his tongue between her delicious lips and tenderly caressed hers. Soon things heated up and they were clinging to each other, fighting for dominance and completely oblivious to their surroundings. Yeah, he had definitely gotten the hang of that kissing thing by now and he couldn’t get enough of it. Someone cleared their throat behind them and Gerard begrudgingly pulled back.

Mikey stood in the door, grinning like a cat that got the canary. “I think mom and dad wanted to take photos in the garden if you two could stop eating your faces for a moment”, he said while giving them a once over. “Damn, mom really had a field day with you, huh? You look great, sis”, his brother added appreciatively. Mikes had started calling her that a few days ago and even though he’d never admit it, Gerard found it fucking cute. His baby brother had really taken a fancy to his girlfriend and already treated her like a part of the family. “Hey, did you actually let mom cut your fuzz, Gee? Man, you really got it bad, huh?”, Mikey wanted to know next. Damn, when had he gotten so annoyingly chatty? “Fuck you, no, I didn’t. Frankie came over ‘bout two hours ago, he does all kinds of weird stuff to his hair and he’s cut mine before. If mom had gotten a hold of me, I’d probably look like a fucking choir boy”, he grumbled as they made their way towards the back door. “I like it. At least I can actually see your beautiful face now. I’ve never understood why you were hiding behind your hair all the time”, his girlfriend whispered into his ear and kissed his cheek before stepping out into the evening sun. Damn, she always said stuff like that so casually and Gerard still did a double take every time it happened.

“Well, she’s right, you know? You really do look good, even though it’s kinda weird that you’re all grown up now. Gonna miss you at school”, Mikey said behind him. Gerard turned around and gave his brother a hug. They really should have done this more often these last few years, now this summer was all they had left together. He’d hopefully go off to Art College in New York this fall and only ever see him on the weekends, if at all. “’M gonna miss you too, Mikes”, he murmured and held him even closer. “Gee?”, his brother muttered after a while. “Can I have your car when you go to college?” That little fucker! “In your dreams! You did that on purpose, getting all sentimental and crap! Nice try, jackass!”, Gerard cried out and grabbed him in a headlock. Mikey laughed even louder than he himself and managed to escape after a while. “Aaah, damn it, but it was worth a try”, his brother said chuckling and straightened out Gerard’s slightly crumpled jacket. “Come on, let’s go or mom’s gonna make even more fuss about this whole thing”, Gerard proposed and dragged Mikey out of the house after him.

Not quite an hour later he parked his car in front of the restaurant where the party would be held. They had arrived a little late on purpose, because neither of them was very keen on witnessing all the great entrances and limousines in the parking lot. Plus, hopefully they would be able to slip in relatively unnoticed and get to their table without drawing attention. Gerard pulled the tickets he had bought out of his pocket and took a deep breath before saying: “Alright, let’s do this. But you only have to tell me if you want to go home early, okay? You don’t have to take shit from any of those idiots.” Cecilia checked her make up in the mirror, smiled at him and answered: “I know. Thank you, for everything.” he smiled back before getting out of the car, buttoning up his jacket and opening the door for her. To his relief the parking lot was deserted and thy didn’t have to deal with people, yet. Thank god for that. Gerard had a weird feeling in his gut. Damn, he really hoped the night wouldn’t go to shit because some asshole tried to pocket Chuck's fucking money with or without Cecilia's consent. He wouldn’t let her out of sight for a second.

They got in without a hitch, a grumpy old lady checked their tickets and stamped some obscure figure onto the back of their hands. Gerard could already hear the babble of voices and some kind of pop music ahead of them. He politely offered his arm to his girlfriend and beamed at her when she accepted. That was another one of those things he had never done before, but that felt kinda nice. Especially with someone as gorgeous as her. On their way they passed a photographer, who had apparently just finished setting up his stuff. Actually Gerard wouldn’t have wasted good money on over-prized pictures, but his granny would probably kill him if she didn’t get a proper photo to show off in front of her friends and neighbors. He owed her that much, after all she had given him a hundred bucks for tonight. And Cecilia seemed to like it if her bright smile was anything to go by.

When they finally reached the doors to the hall, Frankie was waiting for them. Gerard did a double take and blurted out: “What the hell are you doing here?! You said you didn’t wanna waste money on this!” His friend only rolled his eyes and said: “Oh come on, did you really think we’d leave you two alone with these assholes? You might need some help, man, who knows what stupid pranks they’re gonna play at you, hm? Ray’s keeping free seats for us in there. And you look great, by the way, both of you.” Gerard was totally dumbstruck. He definitely hadn’t expected his friends to show up today, but he was fucking relieved they had. Frank was even wearing a suit and for once a hairstyle even his mom would have found socially acceptable. “Thanks, man”, was all he managed to say. “Aaah, you’re welcome, but you owe us, dude!”, his friend dismissed his words and opened the door to hell. He lead them along the wall to a table in a relatively dark corner, that was quite close to the exit should they need it. Ray was already there (wearing suit and tie as well) and waved them over. Damn it, if Gerard had known they were going to Prom after all, he’d have taken _them_ along for shopping instead of being tortured by his mom!

Ray looked them up and down and nodded obviously impressed. “I take it Donna had fun dressing you guys up?”, he asked with a pitiless chuckle. Gerard totally would have flipped him off for that if he hadn’t been so grateful for his help tonight. “Definitely too much fucking fun. I’m so gonna make sure Mikey will get the same treatment next year. She’s gonna drive him nuts”, he replied as he pulled out a chair for his date. He definitely would have dragged his baby brother along today, too, if juniors were allowed to come, but well, you couldn’t have it all. Anyway, Ray had apparently done a great job choosing their table, because they still had it to themselves. However, Gerard couldn’t help but notice that people around them started to whisper amongst each other and heads turned into their direction. Two weeks ago that would have freaked him out, but now he just casually put an arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders and gave her a lingering kiss. Let them watch. Let them gossip. He didn’t give a fuck. “You totally did that on purpose, didn’t you?”, Cecilia whispered against his lips, a soft smile playing on her own. “Absolutely”, Gerard replied with a grin and did it all over again. “Duh, I have a feeling we didn’t think this through. Are we gonna have to watch you make out all night?”, Ray whined next to him and they both burst into laughter. This might become entertaining after all.

Luckily whoever had organized this thing had decided on table service rather than a buffet. Cecilia chose some kind of fish and a glass of water. Gerard raised a questioning eyebrow as soon as he had ordered a steak and a beer. One was okay, he was used to it and would still be able to drive later. “I’ve never had alcohol before and I don’t dare try it tonight. I don’t like how some of the guys look at me, I should probably keep it together”, she explained quietly. “I guess we should get out of here before they get too drunk and do something stupid”, Gerard whispered back. Just as their food was delivered, the most conceited, self-absorbed bitch of their year appeared on stage and grabbed a mic. Oh god, no, please, no speeches! “Jesus, get ready for verbal diarrhea!”, Cecilia groaned next to him. Frankie choked on his drink and Gerard and Ray roared with laughter. And it _was_ bad. Really bad. That Barbie doll up there kept playing with her teased hair and fluttering her huge eyelashes. Her sparkling candy pink gown completed the horrible picture, she looked like a walking cupcake. Gerard couldn’t even focus on what she actually said, because her obtrusive voice was so fucking annoying and he was busy joining the others in roasting her. “I bet her eyelids are gonna be sore tomorrow. Those lashes must weigh a ton, you could probably set her behind a sultan and make her fan”, his girlfriend whispered. Frankie’s face was red all over, because he was trying so hard not to laugh. “Duuuude, who let her do this? I bet it was a guy and she fucked him”, Ray murmured next to him. Damn it, how was Gerard supposed to actually eat his fucking steak like this?! But hey, they were having one hell of a time and consequently ignored the annoyed looks of their peers. At one point their so-called orator even palavered about how romantic their high school years had been, how they had formed friendships that were going to last a lifetime, found love and gotten along so well with everybody. That was when they lost it completely. Goddamn it, was she actually _serious_? Gerard definitely had formed great friendships (plural only because Ray and Frank were _two_ people) and he might even have found love (okay, actually he was pretty sure about that, even if he didn’t have the balls to admit it… yet), but getting along with everybody? Yeah… sure. Absolutely. They _were_ talking about the same fucking school, right?

After 30 minutes of cringeworthy blather, she shot them a death glare and left the stage. Gerard’s ribs hurt from laughing too hard, this was a blast. Cecilia gingerly dried her eyes on her napkin while his friends were still catching their breaths. As soon as it was over, someone turned up the music and people started to dance. Bah, this pop stuff really wasn’t Gerard’s cup of tea. Real music was probably too much to ask for. He wasn’t even hoping for bands like Misfits or Iron Maiden, but come on, at least some Bruce Springsteen or Queen, for fuck’s sake! “This is a very special brand of awful”, Ray complained next to him. But before he could respond, Frankie tapped his shoulder and murmured: “That guy there at the bar kinda creeps me out. He’s looking at you like you guys are a meal.” As Gerard glanced into the direction his friend had pointed out, he discovered that David/Duncan/whatever guy, who had tried to invite Cecilia the day after she had asked him out. “Yeah, I see him, thanks man”, he whispered back.

“Isn’t that the anabolics guy, who came over that day in the yard?”, Ray wanted to know. “In the flesh. I think his name is something with D, isn’t it?”, Gerard replied readily. This might turn nasty, he really didn’t like the look on that asshole’s face. “I think it’s actually Dreshawn”, Cecilia chimed in. What the hell? Was that even a name? “ _Dreshawn_ , are you kidding me? And they’re bullying _us_?”, Frankie exclaimed incredulously. Well, he really had a point there. “I guess that’s one way for parents to tell their child they hate them”, his girlfriend deadpanned with a completely straight face. Alright, Gerard definitely had to reverse his opinion on Proms, they were fucking hilarious.

They hid in their corner for about another hour. The whispering and the stares continued, some people even took photos, but that was pretty much it. Dreshawn (god, what a _name_ ) hadn’t moved an inch. He was sitting at the bar and slowly becoming at least a bit tipsy by the looks of it. Not good at all. Around then the DJ started playing slower songs and some couples swayed to the music instead of real dancing. Hm. He probably could manage that. Gerard definitely would have preferred not to do it in front of all these people, but this was a _dance_ , after all. The things he did for love…

The next song was something he actually recognized, David Bowie’s “Wild Is The Wind”. If he’d dance to anything tonight, it had to be now, it probably wouldn’t get better than this. “May I have this dance?”, he whispered into Cecilia’s ear. “W-What? But… I can’t dance!”, she stuttered a little scared. “Me neither”, Gerard replied with a grin and simply dragged her along onto the dance floor. He had no idea where his guts had come from, especially since he hadn’t had any liquid courage tonight. God, one dance wouldn’t kill him, right? He glanced around and tried to mimic the way the other guys held their partners. Couldn’t be that hard, could it? In the end he simply pulled her into his arms and laid his hands onto her lower back. Hers rested on his chest and she glanced up at him nervously. Gerard smiled down at her and whispered: “Relax, it’s just you and me.” She nodded and by the next verse she was less tense and they began to sway to the music.

 

You touch me  
I hear the sound of mandolins  
You kiss me  
With your kiss my life begins  
You're spring to me, all things to me  
Don't you know, you're life itself!

 

Like the leaf clings to the tree  
Oh, my darling, cling to me  
For we're like creatures of the wind, and wild is the wind  
Wild is the wind

 

“This is so beautiful, do you know it?”, she whispered and managed a shaky smile. Gerard’s fingers crept a little upwards until they touched the bare skin on her back. “David Bowie. The man is a genius, remind me to play you some of his stuff when we get home”, he explained readily and kissed her delicious lips for all to see. He had already used every opportunity to introduce her to some good stuff over the last two weeks, but he had barely scratched the surface of what she had missed growing up. Well, hopefully he had a damn long time left to complete his task. The song ended, next came some disco crap, thank you very much. As the dance floor was assaulted by hordes of people, he took his girlfriend’s hand and guided her through a door, that led onto a patio and into a small backyard. They took a walk along a garden path lined with trees and lanterns, one could probably call it romantic. After a while they found a park bench and sat down.

Gerard pulled a small box out of his pocket and swallowed hard before saying: “Cecilia… I’d like to give this to you.” He had only just seen it yesterday after washing his car (but before the drug store and the creepy old lady at the checkout). It was a golden necklace with a tiny sea shell pendant. Yes, it had cost a fucking fortune, but he had just had to buy it for her. “Oh my god, Gee, this is… it’s so pretty, but it’s too much!”, she cried out. Gerard's heart skipped a beat. She had never called him Gee before and it meant a hell of a lot to him. And even though she had said that it was too much (which it really wasn’t, he’d give her the fucking world), he could tell she wanted his gift. Therefore he took the necklace out of the box and told her to turn around. She lifted her hair and he fixed it around her neck, even managing to close the tiny clasp at the first attempt. “I just thought that… when something hurts a sea shell, it fights back and turns it into a pearl. That kinda reminded me of you. And you never know where the waves will carry it. I have no idea where our path will lead us, but I’d really like to jump into the water with you and find out. Together”, he said in a rush. Oh god, someone kill him. He had probably never uttered something so cheesy in his entire life. It had just… kinda slipped out. Fuck, he was so glad the guys hadn’t heard, they’d never let him live it down. He meant it, every single word, but actually he had planned for it to come out somewhat less sappy. “Oh Gee, I’d love that. I can’t even tell you how much that means to me. It’s perfect. This entire night is perfect. And so are you”, Cecilia whispered and leaned up to kiss him.

Their lips had barely touched when someone came running down the path towards them. “Gee, get her out of here! This Dresh-guy is yelling around that he’s gonna get his fucking reward. He’s searching for you two and he said something about beating you up and fucking Cecilia while you watch. We’re with you, man, but he’s gonna take us down!”, Frankie wheezed, out of breath from running too fast. Shit! “Let’s go!”, he hissed and pulled her to her feet. Hopefully they would be able to escape without that asshole noticing. His girlfriend took off her high heels and gathered her skirt in the other hand. “What about my purse? It’s still inside on the table!”, she asked in a small voice. “I’ll get it, don’t worry, just get the fuck out of here!”, Frank offered without missing a beat and yanked them behind a bush when they heard a familiar voice ahead of them. Damn, the guy was apparently pretty wasted already and it wasn’t even midnight, yet! “God dammit! That fucking motherfucker!”, Frank spat, pure loathing flashing all over his face. “I’m gonna distract him, okay? Just run!”, the little guy decided. He was gone before Gerard even got a word in. Fuck it, he wouldn’t have needed that much adrenaline tonight! At least not that kind!

Soon they heard Frankie call out for them quite a few meters away. Gerard had no fucking clue how he had even gotten there without D-fucker noticing, but apparently being small had its merits now and then. He peered through the branches of the bush they hid behind and saw D-douchebag turn around and follow Frankie’s voice. He even stopped his friend and asked him where they had gone (okay, he used slightly more colorful vocabulary, but still). It was now or never. They made a run for it and sprinted back towards the restaurant. Gerard let Cecilia go first and fumbled for his keys while trying his best not to step onto her skirt.

They had nearly reached the corner of the building when heavy footsteps behind them gave away their persecutor. Cecilia sped up even more, Gerard never would have thought she could run like this. They stormed onto the parking lot and he rammed the key into the lock of his Subaru. As soon as his girlfriend had gotten her skirt in and slammed her door, he pulled out of his parking space just as that asshole lurched around the corner of the house. Gerard bared his teeth, accelerated and careened right through the massive, muddy puddle, that had remained of the rain earlier today. A damn satisfying surge of brackish water splashed all over Dreshawn (now he _did_ remember the fucking name), soaking him from tip to toe and ruining his expensive suit. Fuck yeah, karma was a bitch! “Oh my god!”, Cecilia ground out as soon as they had left the restaurant behind them. “Did you see his stupid face? He looked like the shit demon from that ‘Dogma’ movie we watched with the guys!”, she exclaimed and doubled over with laughter. Gerard burst out laughing, too. Her description was just so spot on! Dreshawn the Golgothan!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The house was dark when they got back. Gerard knew that his parents were out to visit friends and Mikey was probably sitting in his room in the dark playing video games or something. Still, they tried their best to be quiet when he opened the door and they descended down to his room. “We should figure out something to thank Ray and Frank, I really don’t wanna know what would have happened if they hadn’t been there tonight”, Cecilia proposed as she set her shoes down in the corner. “And I really have to wash my feet, I think I still have some grass or whatever between my toes”, she added, wrinkling her nose. While she was in the bathroom, Gerard took off his jacket and threw the fucking boutonniere into the trash can. She was right, they would have been totally fucked if the guys hadn’t shown up today. He had a feeling he had never really appreciated how lucky he was to have them. Recently he had definitely come to realize how… yeah, ok, how _blessed_ he was in some ways. He wasn’t a very religious person, but still. His girlfriend had kinda put a lot of things into perspective for him and he couldn’t help but feel like it made him a better person. _She_ made him a better person. And he wanted to be good. For her.

By the time she returned with her hair down and the make up gone, Gerard had pilfered a bottle of sparkling wine from the fridge upstairs and filled two glasses. She might be only seventeen years old (okay, nearly eighteen), but he still couldn’t believe she had never tried alcohol before. He had even found a few candles in the kitchen cupboards and lit them all around the room. Cecilia stopped in the door with a surprised gasp and looked around. Gerard smiled at her and offered her one of the glasses in his hands. “I thought you still might want to toast our ‘romantic high school years’, even if it’s just with me now”, he said as he raised his glass. “There’s nobody I would rather do that with, Gee, and I can’t thank you enough for this evening”, she replied and took the drink he held out to her. “To the end of an era”, Gerard murmured as he got lost in her icy blue eyes shimmering in the dim light. “And to new beginnings”, his girlfriend added before clinking her glass to his. She tentatively took a sip and wrinkled her nose before turning around and sneezing. It was fucking _cute_. “Duh, that tickled”, she murmured and warily eyed the innocently bubbling liquid. Gerard really had to bite his tongue to fight down a fit of laughter. She was so adorable whenever she discovered something new.

However, before he could say anything, she set her glass down onto his desk and stood before him in all her glory. God, was she beautiful! Cecilia gingerly took his hands in hers and bit her bottom lip before she whispered: “Gerard, there’s something else I’d like to try tonight.” He simply looked into her eyes and didn’t dare say anything to that. Damn, he really, really hoped she meant what he was thinking, because he wanted it, too. So badly. “I want to sleep with you. For real”, she whispered so quietly he nearly would have missed it. Her face was bright red and her grip on his hands tightened, but she didn’t look away. She was so fucking brave. “Okay”, Gerard agreed just as softly. “Are you really sure you want that?”, he asked nervously. This was a big deal, he was almost 100% sure she was a virgin and he really didn’t want to hurt her. Yes, he felt honored or flattered or whatever, because she had chosen _him_ for this, but for the most part he was scared shitless of fucking this up. Oh, and he had a raging boner, that tented his trousers pretty obviously. They stood in the middle of his room, facing each other, his words hanging between them and neither knew what to do next. Yeah. That wasn’t awkward at all. 

Hours seemed to pass before Cecilia took a deep breath and said: “I’m sure. I want it to be you, but to be honest, I’m a little scared. I've heard the girls in the orphanage talk about the first time now and then and pretty much all of them said that it hurt really badly.” Gerard finally set his own glass aside, closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. So he had been right and she had never had sex before, either. He wasn’t sure whether that was a relief or made matters even worse. She was trembling, but she hugged him back. “This is the first time for me, too. But I’ve got protection and some… uhmm… we’ll be fine.”, he confessed quietly as he hid his burning cheeks in her soft curls. She relaxed and melted against his chest, releasing a soft sigh. “Thank you for thinking of that, but we don’t need… I mean, obviously we’re both clean and… uhmm… I’m gonna have my period in two days anyway, so nothing’s gonna happen if we don’t… What I’m trying to say is – we can do it without a condom”, Cecilia rambled in a rush. Well then, that was one less thing to worry about. “Okay”, Gerard whispered as he cupped her cheeks in both his hands and tenderly kissed her delicious lips. 

She sighed into the kiss and dug her hands into his newly cut hair. Gerard bit back a moan when his fingertips slipped slightly beneath the waistband of her skirt. He heroically fought the impulse to grab her ass and press her against his throbbing hard-on. Shit, he probably should have jerked off before this, there was no way he was going to last. Just great. Nimble fingers, that made quick work of his button-down shirt, brought him back to himself. Nobody but his brother, Frankie and Ray had ever seen him shirtless. He had even avoided the showers of the gym at all costs, because he was far from well-defined. Gerard had always been on the chubby side and even though it had gotten better over the past two years when he had grown quite a bit, he definitely didn’t have a six pack. Therefore he held his breath and tensed up when she slowly pushed the garment off his shoulders. 

He had never felt so vulnerable before. And even though Cecilia probably wouldn’t judge him right away, she would definitely _notice_ the obvious differences between himself and a guy like D-stupid-name. Gerard swore then and there to start working out, because gorgeous girls like her simply did not date losers like him. It just didn’t happen. He felt so fucking inadequate next to her... Warm, soft fingers ghosted over his skin and he shuddered as goose bumps erupted all over his upper body. Damn, he really wanted to get her out of that dress, she was covered in way too much fabric, but he had no fucking clue whether he was allowed to or whether it would be too much. Fucking hell, once again she was more courageous than Gerard, even though he should be the one to take the lead! At least he managed to free his wrists from the cuffs of his shirt and to throw it into a corner. Way to go. 

Her delicate little hands touched his chest and sent a shiver down his spine. She splayed her fingers all over his skin, a look of pure wonder on her face. Gerard bit back a moan. That felt fucking fantastic! Ever so slowly, he raised his hands and caressed her back. He played with the little zipper between her shoulder blades and experimentally pulled it down a little. When she gave him a sweet smile instead of stopping him, he opened it all the way and swallowed heavily when she shrugged out of her top. She wore a plain white cotton bra underneath and Gerard was immensely grateful for that. He probably would have drooled all over the place if it had been lace or some see-through shit, it was bad enough as it was. Cecilia slowly undid the front clasp and he couldn’t help but stare at the pair of perfect tits she revealed. They were small, hardly a handful, but tipped with the cutest, dusty pink nipples. It was fucking hard to tear his eyes away after a while and look into her eyes instead. She was biting her bottom lip and apparently trying her best not to cover herself with her hands. “You are so beautiful”, Gerard whispered. That earned him a shaky smile. She seemed to relax a little and let out a deep breath. Hang on, had she seriously been worried that he wouldn’t find her attractive? What the fuck!? 

Gerard simply pulled her into his arms again and buried his face in her soft curls. Her silky skin on his felt better than anything he had ever experienced before. She melted into his embrace, sighing softly and pressing a tender kiss to his collarbone. He crushed her to him in a futile attempt to reign in his raging boner. Damn it! Gerard could hardly think straight anymore and they were not even remotely where he wanted this to go! His hands found the zipper on her side. He only hesitated for a second before asking: “May I?” When she nodded, he dragged it down and held his breath as her skirt slipped off her hips and pooled around her feet. Only afterwards did he realize that she had undone his belt and opened his trousers. In the blink of an eye they hung around his knees. Oh fuck, he really didn’t know whether to be relieved because the pressure on his cock was gone or rather freak out because she saw him in only his underwear. 

In the end Gerard took a deep breath and shook off his pants the rest of the way. Now he was standing there in just his boxers and socks. Sexy. Damn, he had no fucking idea what to do next. And no idea about fucking in general, which wasn’t helping at all. “Uhmm… shall we just...”, Cecilia murmured as she hooked her thumbs into her white cotton knickers. Gerard was far past the ability to form coherent sentences, so he nodded, took a deep breath and shoved his briefs down, taking off his socks in the process. When he looked back up, his girlfriend was facing him completely bare. She was shivering a little, shuffling her feet and staring at the floor. Wow. She was… Gerard didn’t have words to describe what he felt when he was looking at her. Impossibly long legs, a flat belly, slightly rounded hips and creamy, flawless skin… Damn, she was gorgeous. It was then that his brain caught on to the fact that he was just as naked as her. Gerard felt his face heat up and bit his lip. Even though he knew that she had never had sex before, he couldn’t help but wonder whether his dick was… okay. It might sound stupid, but he really had no idea. Frankie and Ray were his best friends, but they didn’t do dick measuring contests. Comparing his cock with Mikey’s would be even weirder, so… yeah. Gerard estimated something around 7.5 inches, but how was he supposed to know whether that was enough? He was quite sure that the girth was okay, but… people always said that size did matter, didn’t they? 

“I...I hadn’t thought it w-was gonna be so… big”, Cecilia murmured quietly and Gerard let out the breath he had been holding. Thank fuck, he would have died of embarrassment if she had said anything in the opposite direction. Just then he noticed the goosebumps all over her body and the way she was shivering. “Shall we… get into the bed? You’re cold”, he proposed and was relived when she nodded and slipped under the comforter. Forcing his body to move, he quickly joined her and propped himself up on an elbow. “I won’t do anything you don’t want. You just… have to tell me if you’re uncomfortable, okay?”, Gerard managed to say, praying that she wouldn’t change her mind. She bit her lip, but she nodded. ‘Alright. You’ve got this’, Gerard firmly told himself as he leaned in and kissed her. Cecilia responded eagerly, so he took the opportunity to stroke across her flat belly and inch closer to her breasts. When she gasped into his mouth, Gerard slid his tongue between her lips and just went for it. 

He carefully cupped one of those creamy mounds in his hand. The skin was soft like velvet and her nipple pressed into his palm, it felt like a little bud, slightly harder than the rest. Fuck, Gerard felt a wave of heat rush through his body and simply couldn’t suppress the moan, that escaped his lips. He was dangerously close to coming, what the hell?! He would NOT make a fool of himself! ‘Keep it together, for fuck’s sake!’, he admonished himself as his fingertips started massaging her teat. Cecilia mewled and urged closer, one of her hands landed on his belly and brushed against his throbbing cock. Never had anybody but himself touched him there and Gerard had been so wound up… that was all it took. White hot ecstasy fizzled along his spine as he gasped for air and came all over his belly. Shit! He had never come so hard before, it felt incredible. 

Gerard was mortified, burning up with humiliation. How the hell had that happened?! Fuck, he was such a screwup, even too stupid to have sex with the girl he… DAMN IT! He just lay there, squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to cry, that would make it even worse. So much for his first time tonight… Cecilia’s fingers, that reluctantly touched the mess he had left on his belly, pulled him out of his misery. When he opened his eyes, she was leaning over him, a curious look upon her face. She brought up one of her hands and rubbed her fingertips together. Gerard’s muzzy brain needed a moment to catch on, but as soon as he realized that she was actually playing with his cum, his spent cock gave a twitch and he could practically feel his blood rush from his face to his cock again. His girlfriend seemed to be utterly fascinated by his sperm coating her fingers and sniffed it before tasting it with the tip of her tongue. “Ooooh, fuck!”, Gerard whispered, he simply could not look away as she sucked her fingers into her mouth and licked them clean. “You taste kinda good”, Cecilia murmured sheepishly, flicking her tongue over her bottom lip to catch a stray drop. 

"Sorry”, he uttered quietly, but she only shook her head and smiled at him. “Don’t be. We have all night”, she said and kissed him softly. Gerard would never have thought that tasting himself in her mouth would be such a turn-on, but fucking hell, he was already half hard again. Their kisses slowly heated up and soon they were engrossed in a full-blown makeout session. When they finally came up for air, Gerard’s cum had already started drying on his belly and he scrunched up his nose, reached for the box of tissues on his nightstand and cleaned himself up. As soon as that was done, he looked over at his girlfriend and was met with the sight of her beautiful tits. Right in his face. What was a guy to do? He didn’t even think about it, closed his lips around her nipple and started sucking. “Oh my _God_! GEE!”, Cecilia keened and dug her fingers into his hair to hold him close. Fuck! Now that he had started, there was no way he could stop this. The feeling of her bud in his mouth was all he could focus on. That and her sighs, her moans, the way she pulled his hair. Little by little, the small nub grew harder and when Gerard finally pulled back, it was dark pink and erect, the skin around it pulled into tiny wrinkles. Wow. _He_ had done that? Just with his mouth? So if he could make her moan like that when he touched her there, what would happen if he tried that… elsewhere? ‘Only one way to find out’, Gerard thought and ran his hand a little lower before he could chicken out of it. 

He swallowed hard and held his breath when his fingers met soft, curly hair. Cecilia buried her face in his shoulder and tensed up a bit, but she didn’t tell him to stop, so it was probably okay when he touched her there. Okay. He could do this. His fingertips slipped between her nether lips and encountered some kind of silky wetness. Alright, so he had done something right so far. Gerard found a little bump and carefully brushed over it. The moan his girlfriend ground out at that was so filthy, nearly animalistic, that it made his cock twitch and tingle. Uuungh, this time he really had to keep it together! He continued massaging her clit for a while and watched her writhe next to him. Her breath came in short, sharp huffs and a thin sheen of sweat glistened on her face and between her breasts. God, she was so beautiful! It took him a while, but finally Gerard found the nerve to slide his index finger into her slit. 

“Fuck, oh my God!”, she cried out as she pushed down onto his hand. It was so hot and tight, he had no fucking clue how his cock should even fit in there. Gerard gently moved his digit in and out and added another one when she seemed to enjoy what he did. He figured stretching her a little wouldn’t hurt. All of a sudden, he noticed a small patch inside her, that felt slightly different than the rest, kinda spongy, for lack of a better word. Interesting. He rubbed against it and Cecilia nearly jumped out of her skin. She let out a scream and clamped her thighs around his wrist, but Gerard didn’t let go. Apparently he had found her G-spot and he couldn’t wait to see her come. He didn’t have to wait very long. Without warning she arched her back, squeezed her eyes shut and wailed in ecstasy. Her inner walls clamped down on his fingers and squeezed him in a way that left his mouth bone dry. Gerard really tried not to imagine how that would feel around his cock, because fuck, by now he was fucking desperate. 

As soon as she had come down a bit, he pulled out his fingers and brought them up to his nose. God, if she tasted anything like she smelled, he would eat her out at the first opportunity, but right now he couldn’t take any more and contented himself with a small taste as he sucked his fingers into his mouth. Mmmh, fuck, this was too good to be true. Cecilia gave him a satisfied little smile and whispered: “That was amazing! I never would have thought it could be like this.” Well, that made two of them. Gerard smiled back and kissed her soft lips. His self-control was rapidly running thin, his erection was becoming fucking painful. His girlfriend opened her legs for him and he lay down between her creamy thighs and propped himself up on his elbows. “Are you sure?”, he asked one last time. Her eyes were huge and trusting, her pupils blown wide with lust. She nodded, smiling at him as if he was the center of her fucking world. Damn it, his nerves returned at full force. His hand was shaking when he reached down and tried to position himself at her entrance. Fuck, what if he slid down and ended up… somewhere else? Gerard definitely wouldn’t decline anal sex, but right now that was probably a really bad idea. 

At the first try he slipped up and brushed against her clit. She moaned at that, but that was not what he had been trying to achieve. However, the second time the head of his cock dipped into her folds and glided into her. Gerard held his breath and bit the inside of his cheek until he drew blood. Fuck, nothing had ever felt so good before! It was so hot, so wet and so, so tight… his head was spinning and his entire body tensed up. “Okay?”, he asked Cecilia, who was looking at him with eyes wide as saucers. She nodded and swallowed hard as she gripped his shoulders for leverage. Gerard pushed in deeper and groaned at the feel of her silky cunt. Suddenly there was a slight resistance and he braced himself. This was it, the moment he had equally anticipated and dreaded ever since he had started fantasizing about having sex with her. Gerard really wished there was a way to do this without hurting her. Okay… like a band aid, right? ‘Don’t freak out’, he encouraged himself and took one last deep breath. 

He leaned down and kissed her sweetly. Simultaneously, he hauled off and thrust his entire length into her pussy. Oh fuck, Gerard nearly would have shot his load then and there, but her sharp cry of pain brought him back to his senses. She was trembling beneath him and a single tear rolled down her temple. “Shhh, it’s okay, it won’t hurt anymore, I promise”, he rambled on as he petted her hair and kissed away the tear. Remaining still was the hardest fucking thing Gerard had ever done in his life, but he managed… barely. Every fiber of his body was screaming at him to fuck her into the mattress, but he pulled himself together. She deserved better than that. 

Finally she relaxed around him and whispered: “I think I’m okay.” Thank god, he couldn’t have kept this up much longer. Gerard pulled back ever so slowly and thrust back into her. She gasped and her eyes grew wide. “Ohhh, that feels so good”, she sighed as the last bit of nervous tension drained from her body. Gerard grinned triumphantly and applied a little more force to his next thrust. It was so fucking _good_! He pushed into her again. And again. He couldn't have stopped, even if he had wanted to, his lust was taking over. “Do that again!”, Cecilia moaned after a particularly hard thrust and he was lost. Gerard picked up speed and rammed his cock into her like a man possessed. 

She clawed at his shoulders and held on for dear life. He forced her thighs further apart and she instinctively wrapped them around his waist. At this new angle he could go even deeper. Gerard slammed his hips against her tasty ass and watched her breasts jiggle with the sheer force of their fucking. Actually he had wanted to do it slowly and tenderly, but there was no way he could hold back now. He felt his orgasm build and his balls draw closer to his body. Fuck! He would NOT come before her! Gerard slipped one of his hands between their bodies and reached for her clit. Her eyes rolled back into her head and her mouth fell open into a silent scream. Violent shudders wracked her entire body and her insides started fluttering around his shaft. A beautiful blush crept all over her face and her neck down to her chest. 

Suddenly she took a deep breath and screamed his name. It was loud enough for the entire fucking street to hear, but Gerard didn’t give a damn. Her pussy contracted around his cock when her inner muscles started milking him for all he was worth. And finally he let himself go and threw back his head as he hammered into her. When he came, he felt it all the way to his fingertips. His body seized up and shattered into a thousand pieces. His balls tightened and forced surge after surge of hot cum out of his pulsing cock as he howled in ecstasy. Nothing had ever been better. When it was over, Gerard collapsed onto his girlfriend’s chest. His heart was racing a mile a minute and he was twitching with aftershocks. 

It took an inhuman effort to roll over and pull Cecilia on top of him instead of crushing her. She was panting, just like him. For a while they just lay in each others arms and gradually came down from their high. The first thought Gerard’s fuzzy brain was able to form, was that sex was fucking _awesome_. And that he was damn relieved that he wasn’t gonna die a virgin. He tenderly brushed a strand of hair off his girlfriend’s sweaty forehead and kissed her. He put all the emotions into the kiss, that were threatening to overwhelm him. Even though what they had done had been desperate and frenzied – it had been more than just fucking. _So_ much more. 

“You should probably take a picture”, Cecilia murmured when they came up for air. What the hell was she talking about? Some of his lack of understanding must have shown on his face, because she explained in a strained voice: “Well, you know, Chuck’s money? You’re gonna need it for college and… the band… it would be stupid to miss out on an opportunity like this.” Honestly? Gerard had totally forgotten about that. And anyway… “No!”, he stated firmly. “No way in hell. Those fuckers won’t get to see you like this. I don’t give a shit about Chuck’s money, you are my girlfriend and this moment is ours and ours alone”, he added in his most final tone. That wasn’t even a question! She kissed him again, even softer this time. And then she whispered: “I think I might love you, Gerard Way.” 

A shit-ton of butterflies erupted in Gerard’s belly. He really wasn’t sure whether this was a dream, it was just too good to be true. How had he ever deserved her? His face split into the biggest grin and he whispered back: “I think I might love you, too.” And fuck, he meant it. If anyone had told him three weeks ago that he would be lying in his bed right now, with a beautiful girl and that they would confess their love for each other right after absolutely mind-blowing sex… he probably would have asked where they had gotten the shit they were on. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her one last kiss before snuggling up to her warm body. She sighed against his chest and was asleep in a matter of seconds. Gerard felt himself drifting off as well and he smiled as he hugged Cecilia tighter. Right now nothing could bring him down. Neither the pile of college applications he had to write nor Mikey’s inevitable teasing in the morning. There was no way his baby brother hadn’t heard them. To hell with it. Gerard was the happiest guy on earth. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to know what you thought of that :)
> 
> Any mistakes are my own, feel free to point out if I've missed any.


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